Earlier this month Luxology announced the release of modo 501, the latest version of their award-winning 3D software package. The 501 version increases rendering speed, offers ray-tracing viewports, multi-resolution sculpting and third-party plugin SDK support. modo 501 is also the first release that supports 64-bit support on Mac OS X.

“We love 3D and are pleased to see the 3D market growing across the board. Part of Luxology’s contribution is to continue to develop modern 3D software applications that are open and artist friendly,” said Brad Peebler, president and co-founder of Luxology. “A key part of this effort is to listen to our users and create products that match their needs. modo 501 delivers this with a community-inspired set of new features and workflow enhancements that make an actual difference in daily production.”

modo 501’s New Features

modo 501 has dozens of new features but what follows below is a brief summary of key elements of the release:

Rendering – raytracing is further speed optimized offering 30-40 percent performance gain. The Preview Renderer now progressively renders to near final quality and can prioritize updates in areas where users scrub with a mouse or pen

Modeling – modo 501 now supports industry standard Pixar Subdivision Surfaces and new “one click” modeling tools for common modeling operations speeding up the workflow. Procedurural geometry tools make their debut and new snapping and alignment tools enhance precision.

Sculpting – Sculpting tools now work on multi-resolution meshes, facilitating coarse or fine adjustments to surfaces as needed. This is equivalent to further subdivision levels in similar tools (eg: Autodesk Mudbox).

Texturing – New occlusion texturing options make it easier to create worn edges, corroded crevices and the like. modo 501 also supports disk-based, tiled-image map formats allowing users to work with images that are much larger than the available system memory.

Other key new features include improvements to fur rendering, a new node-based schematic viewport system for animation and a software development kit for third-party developers.

01 - modo 501 supports Pixar SubDivision Surfaces.

For architectural visualization modo 501 now supports a “billboard” capability to help efficiently visualize trees and leaves.

“This release is really all about the user’s experience,” said Chris Hague, freelance 3D illustrator and modo 501 beta tester. “I think it’s that specific focus that draws me to modo and makes Luxology such a special company.”

modo 501 is available now and comes with a dual license that supports both Mac OS X and Windows. The software has a suggested retail price of 995.USD with upgrades at 395.USD. To learn more or contact an authorized modo reseller visit: www.luxology.com